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Spirits, and temperatures, soar in Memorial Day parade
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The VFW Post 6246, from Noblesville, Ind., create a mobile Iwo Jima Memorial aboard their float Monday during the Memorial Day Parade on Constitution Avenue in Washington.
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Tens of thousands crowded into the nation’s front yard on Monday to celebrate a peaceful — if broiling — Memorial Day.
After a torrential downpour Sunday, temperatures reached the high 80s Monday for the Memorial Day parade, which kicked off from Constitution Avenue across from the National Archives at about 2 p.m.
Friends William Grayson, 16, Javier Roman, 13, and Kristin Thiesfeld, 16, ROTC Marines from Quantico, held a banner saying “National Memorial Day.”
“It’s awesome,” William said. “There’s nothing more exciting than to look down this road and see everything ahead.”
Kai Schowe, 3, was excited, too. Standing by his brother, Chase, 2, and his mother, Roxanne, of Baltimore, Kai said he couldn’t wait for the parade to begin.
“I want to see them play music and march around,” he said.
But the day belonged to the veterans.
The day’s biggest cheer went up when a golf cart passed the reviewing stand. The announcer told the crowd that the cart carried Frank Buckles, a veteran of World War I.
Sitting on a float was Bill Broadwater, 81, a former Tuskegee Airman.
The Airmen were pioneering African-Americans, the first blacks to fly combat missions for the U.S.
“We want to show them that we’re still around and doing things that people thought we couldn’t do,” Broadwater said. “We showed them we could fly airplanes. And we were pretty darn good at it.”
The flag at the National Archives, where the parade began, was lowered to half-staff. At 3 p.m., the parade halted and the music stopped.
All observed a moment of silence for the fallen. The silence was broken only by the peal of two Air Force jets doing a flyover.
The weekend saw thousands take to the capital region’s roads, but the day passed relatively safely.
Maryland and Virginia State Police reported a calm weekend on the capital region’s roads, while there were “a rash” of fatalities in the areas around Salem County, Va., and a fatality on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, police said. As of press time Monday, the District too was quiet.
Early traffic reports on Monday afternoon suggested that parade-goers would have a long ride home: There were already reports of minor accidents and congestion on the main thoroughfares out of the District.
Comments from Examiner Readers
8:43 AM MST on Wed., May. 28, 2008 re: "Parents turned away from Arlington due to Bush’s motorcade"
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2:32 PM MST on Mon., May. 26, 2008
re: "Bush visits Arlington to honor those fallen"
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7:59 AM MST on Tue., May. 29, 2007
re: "Bush visits Arlington to honor those fallen"
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2:05 AM MST on Tue., May. 29, 2007
re: "Bush visits Arlington National Cemetery to honor fallen soldiers"
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Patricia Thiel (Rekas) said:
I too, went to visit my father's grave at ANC and was turned away. They said I could come back at 1:30 (this was around 11:00 am. My heart goes out to the Kirkpatrick's. They are former neighbors and our children played together. To be turned away when we had a pass to visit our loved ones is an OUTRAGE! I live locally and can go often, but people who came from far away, I am sure were much more than just disappointed. ANC or Mr. Bush need to rethink this process!
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Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick said:
We did go to Arlington today to visit with our son, Scott. Marti picked some flowers from our yard, his favorite azaleas and I carried his favorite bottle of Malt Scotch to share a wee dram with him. We got there and spent nearly and hour in traffic because the Metro police were just standing around instead of usefully directing traffic and once we got within five cars of the entrance everyone was turned away and told to come back three hours later because the President's motorcade was coming. We never did get to visit with Scott. Hundreds if not thousands of families were denied this sorrowful pleasure for the convenience of the man who sent them to their deaths. Simply outrageous.
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Examiner Reader LtCol. Lawrence Boteler USAF Ret. said:
Original instructions to Arlington Cem. visitors that no one permitted to walk in. A bus would transport attendees from Chapel Gate to Amphitheater. I arived in USAF uniform at the bus; an Army NCO informed me only those with VIP Cards admitted; NO ONE ELSE ADMITTED. I was turned away. Your piece appears to indicate no unusual VIP attendees. Was there last-minute security info that required this very restricted admission policy?
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Examiner Reader said:
What about the fallen Sailors, Marines and Airmen?
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